Un homme à détruire

"Stranger on the Prowl" is probably the one Losey movie most people haven't heard of. He made it largely on location in Italy in 1952 from a screenplay by Ben Barzman, (like Losey, Barzman was also a victim of the blacklist), and it gave Paul Muni a late starring role as a drifter on the run who strikes up a friendship with a small boy who comes to share his hiding place. Although technically an Italian film, it's in English and while hardly a masterpiece it's still a remarkable piece of work, a cross between Italian Neo-Realism and American Film Noir and it remains an essential part of the Losey canon.

It's a story the cinema has tackled many times with varying degrees of success. This one works in large part to the fine performances of Muni and Vittorio Manunta as the boy but mainly due to Losey's mostly unsentimental handling of the material and his brilliant use of his Italian locations. It may be difficult to see these days but it shouldn't be missed if you get the opportunity.

Despite a few effective moments, Muni unaccountably overplays in this film & Losey's direction is without his usual control and taste. The story, of a drifter in Italy, is incoherent and the characterisation, especially Muni's role, so scanty that it's difficult to understand motivation.

American expatriate Joseph Losey now working in Europe because of the blacklist teamed with star Paul Muni to make Stranger On The Prowl. It's a downbeat story of a man just looking for food and shelter and to earn passage on a ship.

A said combination of circumstances lead to the accidental death of an old woman shopkeeper and Muni is now wanted for murder. He teams up with a small boy Vittorio Manuta who has run away from home.

The story is uneven kind of moves in fits and starts. The best thing it has going for it is the stark cinematography of post war italy in particular Tuscany. Young Manuta delivers a good perforance and works nicely with Muni.

Another American expatriate Joan Lorring has a small role here.

Not one of Losey's best, nor hardly Muni's, but all right.

Paul Muni stowed away on a ship, and has just been thrown off in port. He has nothing but the clothes he wears and a gun. He's tired and hungry. Joan Loring wants to go to see the boy she yearns for fight in the ring, but she has nothing. Vittorio Manunta has lost the money for the milk. Their paths will cross on this dark night.

Joseph Losey was hit with the blacklist, and was in Italy, so he made this dark story about absolute poverty and an uncaring world. It's easy to read something dark and personal into the movie, and I don't think that's incorrect, but although he would explore the same things many times in his career -- alternating with purely commercial stuff like MODESTY BLAISE, this neorealistic effort is pretty raw in its attitudes. Like most of his work, I find it a chore to watch, although there's no denying its excellence.

The scariest part of this film is not the stranger on the prowl (played by Paul Muni), but the condition of Italy even seven full years after the end of WW2. After seven full years, people were still starving, still out of work, and still selling themselves to the few men who had made money during those terrible times. One of these women, Miss Loring, plays an unfortunate who tries to help Muni get away. Giacomo, a small, poor boy from the neighborhood, also tries to help the stranger.

Muni tries to sell a gun that he has to pay his passage aboard a ship he wants to take to America. He has no assets other than his street smarts. The film is a hidden gem of the Italian neo-realism period in movie history. Be sure to see it.